Welcome to AcquiaU

It wasn't too long ago that I received a phone call from a crazy distant place called Acquia informing that I had been chosen to go on an adventure with them to learn all I could about their company and Drupal with the possibility of having a job after the 14 week training. All I had to do was pack up my car and be in Boston, MA in approximately two weeks. Of course at the end of the call my cell phone self-destructed as these things normally do after such news. (Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo INSPECTOR GADGET)

Almost instantly I was in a panic to get all of my affairs in order to take advantage of this amazing opportunity. I had to find a place to live in Boston, find a place to store all of my stuff in Illinois, say farewells to all of my friends and family, and spend as much time as possible with my girl. Sometimes the last one of those items took priority over the rest and honestly caused me to procrastinate a lot of it until the last few days.

The first thing I had to do was try and find a place to live. I had never visited Boston, I had no friends in Boston, and I had no idea what I should be looking for as far as neighborhoods, cost, or public transportation. I tried looking at AirBnB, Zwillow, Rent.com, etc. all with no luch finding something in my price range. Eventually I caved and began looking on craigslist. I quickly realized that if I wanted to be able to not be homeless (which as some of you know I did in Austin for 6 months), I would have to rent a room in someone's house. Once I started looking for something like that I was able to find an affordable place just south of Boston in a neighborhood called Roxbury. It was only a 35 minute bus / subway trip to and from Acquia's office downtown on State St. and was well within my budget AND it was a fully furnished room so I didn't have to worry about UHAULing 1200 miles.

After I knew where I was going to live and I had received my official offer letter from AcquiaU I had to start packing and moving all of my stuff up and deciding what was needed, what was wanted, and what just wasn't feesibly able to travel with me. I basically put everything in the center of my room and began sorting it all into piles. Once I had all the necessities packed up and knew they would fit, I was able to start selecting items from my "want" pile. Normally I live very light and I'm able to up and leave at any point, but I've been slowly accruing items over the years and it was much harder this time around. Everything else that wouldn't fit in my car was taken to my mother's attic until I find out if I have a job after the AcquiaU training is done at which point I'll have to move it all out to Boston or wherever it is I end up working.

Fast-forward to the Friday before the AcquiaU program begins. My car is loaded, I've said my goodbyes, and I'm ready to hit the road for my drive. The next 17 hours were full of anxious thoughts about what I was leaving behind and the crazy unknown that I was heading towards. Nothing exciting really happened along the way. A small child swung their car door open into my car and left a pretty good ding while I was at a rest area, I almost hit 98723940234 deer while driving through NY in the middle of the night, and I almost died at least 3 times while driving through Boston trying to find my new place of residence. After I arrived I went out and bought some necessities and decided I would never drive in Boston again. My car will remain parked at the house unless I need it for something else.

This blog is way too long. I apologize.

Sunday I decided it would probably be a good idea to give the public transportation a test run from my house to the office downtown. It honestly wasn't too bad. I got on the bus and the driver was very friendly and explained to me which stop I needed to get off at and explained when I should hit the "stop request" button. The customer support at the Orange line stop was very friendly as well and helped me buy a monthly pass for both the bus and subway. I took the Subway to the State street stop and got off. I walked out of the building and was in awe of what I was looking at. Directly in front of me was The Exchange building that Acquia was now located in. It was a huge building that just kept going up and up and up. I decided to get some lunch, but I couldn't find anything that was open. Several people were walking around so I decided to ask for directions, but of the 13 people I stopped for help, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM WERE TOURISTS! I eventually found some food and bumped into Cheers! After I ate I decided I had enough excitement for one day and I wanted to get plenty of rest for AcquiaU the next day. I got home, passed out, and woke up at 5 a.m. just to make sure I made it into work on time!

I made the trip to work and arrived an hour early. I wasn't sure what to expect really. All I knew is that I was supposed to go to the security desk to get a pass in order to get up to the Acquia office. I got my pass and went to the elevator where my pass was scanned and an elevator was automatically called for me to the 10th floor. Once I arrived to the 10th floor, the doors opened and I was instantly greeted by this giant droplet looking wall light. It was incredible! I took a few steps out and looked to my right where I could see the front desk through a pair of glass doors. I was a bit early and the doors were still locked, but an Acquian eventually came up and let me into the office. The wall to the right of the front desk is a bunch of monitors with a cool design on them, to the left of the front desk was a HUGE kitchen / dining area with fountain soda, fridges, coffee makers, beer on tap, and so much more. I knew that I was going to fit in just fine here. I was then given a tour by Amy Parker who is leading the AcquiaU program.

This should prove to be an exciting adventure with Acquia and all the other members of the AcquiaU group. I can't wait to see what we are going to learn and what kind of people I'm going to meet.